


faith

by lesbianxshuri



Series: moments on the waverider [3]
Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Fluff, For reasons, Friendship, Let's be honest, Me Neither, Other, Team Legends - Freeform, and it's not angsty, and pain, but it happened, can you believe i wrote something with rip in it, jax x rip interactions are my life, mentions of captain eve baxter, post S1, rip to the rescue, sweet precious jax, that relationship gives me so much joy, those characters are my life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-05
Packaged: 2018-09-28 09:03:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10083464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lesbianxshuri/pseuds/lesbianxshuri
Summary: “Wait! You want me to build that library?”“Well, yes. I thought that I’d been clear,” he retorted, his nonchalant tone implying that it was obvious.“Why me?” he asked, lifting a shoulder.“Why not?” Rip shot back, his hands deep in his pocket and the hint of a smile on his face.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Damn Kadi, back at it again with the Rip-centric fics. What can I say? I'm inspired. This fic is more Jax centric than it is Rip centric. It includes both of them, though, because their relationship is awesome - not at the moment, but i'm trying to ignore that because i've cried enough over it. 
> 
> Without further due, here's the new installment of 'moments on the waverider' 
> 
> enjoy :)

_Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence._

* * *

 

 

“Mr Jackson. A word if you will?”

 

Jax watched, his eyebrows frowned in confusion as Rip left the common area, too focused on the tablet in his hands to wait for his area. Turning back to Sara and Ray, with whom he had been previously engaged in a passionate game of _Uno,_ he tilted his head to the side in consideration. The blonde responded with a shrug while Ray mimicked his frown of confusion, the frown quickly being replaced by a defeated grimace at the _+4 card_ that Sara had just placed in the middle. With a sigh, he got up and distributed the rest of his cards to Sara and Ray, sniggering at their protests before walking away. After a few wrong turns, Jax found the Captain standing in an empty space, muttering to himself while tapping on the tablet. Clearing his throat, Jax stiffened a laugh when Rip jumped, obviously startled by the sudden appearance. Quickly composing himself, he straightened his posture and crossed his hands behind his back, the hint of a smile pulling at his lips.

 

“There you are. I didn’t pull you from anything too important, I hope?”

 

“Not really, you saved me from an humiliating loss, actually,” Jax shot back, satisfied when it earned him a snort from the older man, “what’s up?”

 

Letting out a breath, Rip took a quick look around him, his eyes taking it all in before it fell back onto Jax.

 

“I actually wanted your opinion on this space.”

 

“It’s-“ Jax shrugged, his gaze darting around the room, disinterested, “space-y?”

 

A breathy chuckle escaped the Captain’s mouth, much to Jax’s confusion and slight irritation. Pursing his lips, Rip gave a small hum and scratched the back of his head, thoughtful.

 

“What I meant is, what do you think about constructing a library in here. I thought that seeing as our mission is taking to new lengths, a few additions to the _Waverider_ would be necessary,” he explained, noticing Jax’s slightly puzzled expression. He shot him a small smirk, an eyebrow cocked, “Can’t have you lot protecting History without a proper library and research centre, can I?”

 

Jax snorted at the small jab, only listening to him with one ear. Fully stepping into the space, he crossed his arms and turned on his heels, the blueprints drawing themselves and the area completely furnished in his mind. Oblivious to Rip’s smug smirk, Jax crossed his arms and made sure to remember each inch of the room, categorizing them in his mind for later.

 

“Do you think it’s doable?” Rip asked, breaking – rather loudly – his train of thoughts.

 

His lips pursed in thought, Jax shrugged.

 

“Depends,” he sighed, “How large do you want this library to be?”

 

“I believe the length of the room would suffice. You don’t seem to agree,” Rip added, his eyes narrowing as he noticed Jax’s small frown.

 

“It’s not that I don’t _agree_ ,” the younger man weakly countered, raising a hand, “It just seems a bit cramped. Alright, you want to build a library, research centre or whatever? You’re going to need room. You’re going to need a work area, which we could actually use for research,” Jax kept talking as he gestured around the room, relieved to find Rip interested in his small exposé when he dared a glance at the Captain, “I bet you would want to model it like your study right?” he couldn’t help his victorious smile at the older man’s nod, “Your study is what? 10 feet in length, we would need about three extra feet here. We can’t knock out that wall, can we?”

 

Jax added the last question with a grimace. Rip frowned at him, as if he disapproved of the very thought of deliberately causing damage to this ship, which would be understandable. What he had misread as disapproval turned out to be contemplation, and again, Jax couldn’t help but feel relief at the lack of lectures. Racking a hand through his hair, Rip then crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall, his long legs stretched out in front of him. Jax couldn’t help but stare at the tablet hanging loosely from the hands of his fingers, anxious.

 

“I don’t think so. Knocking off the wall would mean to get rid of one of the ship’s support and it would entail a load of work,” he muttered under his breath, “But we can extent the area,” he added with a nonchalant shrug, as if it were big deal.

 

“Can you really do that?” Jax exclaimed, his eyes widening in awe and the almost-falling tablet forgotten.

 

Rip’s smirk seemed to be the only response he needed. Pushing himself off the wall, he looked up at the ceiling and tucked his tablet under his arm.

 

“Gideon, what do we have behind this wall?”

 

“ _The hallway leading to the bridge_ , _Captain,”_ the A.I responded.

 

“And is it large enough for us to extend this by three feet?” Rip asked, his brow furrowed in concentration as he resumed his typing on the device.

 

_“I suppose it is, Captain. Would you like me to do a simulation of the room’s hypothetical expansion?”_

“Might as well,” he muttered.

 

Frowning in confusion as the lights deemed, Jax turned to Rip, the latter smirking at him and holding a hand as he opened his mouth to ask what was going on. Quickly, his confusion was replaced by amazement as the walls surrounded him became transparent and gave them a view of the common area – Jax let out a small chuckle when he saw Sara slipping two of her cards underneath Ray’s knees, the latter oblivious as he stared at his own set of cards, deciding on which he should put down. Jax only had a few seconds to marvel at the scene before somehow, the area expanded of a few more meters and actually looked like a room and not some grey unoccupied space.

_“It seems like an expansion is conceivable,”_ Gideon spoke up, her synthetic voice breaking the silence. Jax was taken by how soft and pleased the A.I sounded.

 

“Yes, it does, Gideon,” Rip agreed and Jax didn’t need to turn around to know that the Captain was smiling. And that felt like an accomplishment of its own.

 

In the blink of an eye, Jax found himself back into the plain, grey empty space and he tried to ignore the disappointment clinging at the back of his mind. Rip’s hopeful and satisfied smile helped to forget it, in a way.

 

“So,” he started, cocking an eyebrow at the younger man, “Now that we know that adjustments such as this are possible, do you think that it’s doable?” he repeats, a secretive twinkle in his eye.

 

He blew out a breath, unable to control the smile taking over his face, and shrugged.

 

“Yeah, I guess. It’s going to be a lot of work, but…” Jax crossed his arms and nodded to Rip, “it’s doable.”

 

“Alright, then,” he nodded and handed him his tablet, which did nothing but confused the younger man, “Better get to it right away, you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you.

 

Jax heard the words that left Rip’s mouth. He was pretty sure the words made sense. He didn’t understand what were they supposed to mean, though. He replayed the moment in his mind several times, changing the words’ place in the sentence and still he couldn’t make sense it. Because it simply didn’t made sense. Why would Rip Hunter, the actual Captain of a time ship, give him, Jefferson Jackson, a mere grease monkey and other half of a metahuman, the responsibility of such a task?

 

Rip watched, seemingly amused as Jax gaped at him, his mouth dry and his eyes wide opened. If he hadn’t been so perplexed, he would’ve probably been frustrated at the Captain’s obvious smug satisfaction and delight. Seeing as he still hadn’t taken the tablet he was being handed, Rip cleared his throat and slowly put the device in the younger man’s hand, wrapping his fingers around it so he wouldn’t drop it. With a last smile and encouraging pat on the shoulder, he went to walk away. Jax blinked at him, his mind fuzzy and his hands heavy. The weight of the tablet brought him back to reality.

 

“Wait!” he called, causing Rip to stop in his tracks and turn back around, an eyebrow cocked in question. With a couple of long strides, Jax quickly caught up to him, “You want _me_ to build that library?”

 

“Well, yes. I thought that I’d been clear,” he retorted, his nonchalant tone implying that it was obvious.

 

And even though he confirmed it, it still didn’t make sense to Jax. He tightened his hold around the tablet, as if making sure it was real and not just a fragment in his imagination, and looked up at Rip, the latter staring at him expectantly.

 

“Why me?” he asked, lifting a shoulder.

 

“Why not?” Rip shot back, his hands deep in his pocket and the hint of a smile on his face.

 

His detachment frustrated him more, now that his mind was clearer and Jax found himself gritting his teeth. Letting out breath through his nose, he brought the tablet to his forehead, the cool surface strangely soothing, before letting it fall to his side.

 

“I’m just a mechanic. You’ve got two geniuses on this ship, I’m pretty sure one of them is a more suitable choice than I am. I mean, Ray _made_ his suit. A library wouldn’t be much to handle for him.”

 

“I also got a former member of the League as my second, and at some point, had two criminal and a couple of reincarnated Egyptian entities as part of my crew,” Rip retorted, both of his eyebrows up. He smirked at the look Jax was sending him, “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought we were stating obvious facts.”

 

Jax scoffed and rolled his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. Rip’s smirk softened into a small smile as he took a few steps toward the younger man, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“Despite what you may think, none of my choices are taken without a reason or lightly. I trust _you_ with this task because I have faith in you and your abilities, Jax. You’ve proven worthy of that trust at multiples occasions, even though I didn’t always deserve it,” he admitted with a sigh, smiling at Jax’s slight grimace, “Don’t sell yourself so short.”

 

His jaw clenched, Jax bowed his head, fingers tapping against the hard case of the tablet case as he thought over the Captain’s words. Rip’s praise and belief meant more than he ever thought it would. Somewhere between getting drugged and destroying a literal time old institution, Jax had found himself seeking his older peers’ validation and acceptance. As the youngest member of the crew, he had tried to prove his worth, volunteering for tasks he hadn’t the abilities required, reading the Waverider’s handbook and familiarizing himself with every part of the ship. And somehow, he had earned the trust and affection of a former Time Master, a pair of crooks, an Egyptian goddess, a resurrected assassin and two geniueses. People with whom he had never thought he would be so close, people that he had come to admire, people that he had come to consider as family.

 

“Unless,” Jax looked up at Rip, the latter reaching for the device in his hands, “you’re not feeling up to the task,” he said, his tone light and taunting.

 

Narrowing his eyes at the other man, Jax shook his head and held the tablet out of the Captain’s grasp. If he looked closed enough, he could almost see Rip stiffen a smirk as his hands closed around thin air.

 

“No,” Jax muttered, still shaking his head before clearing his throat and repeating it louder, “No, I’ll do it.”

 

“You sure? I would completely understand if you decided to back out. It would be a shame, really, since you’ve already got a vision for it. A great one, might I add, Mr Jackson,” Rip let out a long, dramatic sigh, rubbing the back of his neck, “Maybe Dr Palmer would be more suited to the task.”

 

“ _No_!” Jax repeated louder, his tone forceful as he hugged the tablet to his chest, “I got it. Ray’s more of a scientist that he is a mechanic, anyway. Making his own super suit, while impressive, isn’t the same thing as designing library aboard a time ship.

 

Rip huffed a laugh, his hands linked behind his back.

 

“My exact thoughts,” he agreed with a small nod, his mouth twisted into this familiar half-smirk. His head cocked to the side, “I gather that means that you’re going to do it.”

 

 

Mirroring his smirk, Jax gave him a nod, his smirk softening into a grin at Rip’s satisfied sigh, unconsciously pushing his shoulder back in pride at the Captain’s silent endorsement. Clearing his throat, Rip clapped his hands.

 

“Alright, then. Like said before, we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us,” he exclaimed, pushing away some boxes to the side with his foot, quickly imitated by Jax, “We can get rid of those later, unless you want to keep them for later use,” Rip added, wiping his hands on his hands.

 

Noticing he was expecting an answer from him, Jax shook his head.

 

“ _Captain, we’re being hailed by the Acheron”,_ Gideon intervened.

 

It took Jax longer than he’d like to admit for him to link the unfamiliar name to the time ship they had been captured on a few weeks by time pirates. It took a few more seconds to remember the Captain they had been locked with. Still, he was still confused as to why and - how - she was hailing the Waverider. Much to his relief so was Rip.

 

“What- _how_ can Baxter be able to hail us? The ship’s docked,” the Captain protested, frowning at the ceiling.

 

“ _Seeing as you’re the last Time Master Captain Baxter has come in contact with before the destruction of the Vanishing Point, I suppose she tracked the Waverider to 2016,”_ Gideon retorted, her tone slightly exasperated. Jax could practically hear the _‘duh_ ’ implied in that sentence.

 

“Still doesn’t explain the _how,”_ Rip muttered to himself before clearing his throat, “Patch it through my study, would you,” he added louder as he started walking away.

 

_“Yes, Captain.”_

As if only remembering about Jax’s presence at the moment, Rip snapped his fingers and turned around, walking backward with a finger pointed at him.

 

“We’ll discuss the details later, Mr Jackson. As of now, the study is opened for you to work if needed be. I suppose you’ll know where to find the toolbox,” he barely waited for his positive response as he continued speaking, “You’ll find the blueprints of the ship there. If there’s anything else you need, I’m at your disposition,” Rip finished, giving a small bow.

 

Barely registering the gesture, Jax gave another nod, a small frown on his face as the Captain twisted back on his heels.

 

“Hey Rip?” Jax called, his tone hesitant when Rip spun back to face him, an eyebrow cocked in question. He let out a breath, his stare unwavering and sure as he met the older man’s gaze, “I just want to let you know that I’m really invested in this team and project. I won’t let you down.”

 

Smiling at the vehemence of the statement, Rip gave him a crooked, yet genuine, grin and tilted his head to the side.

 

“I never expected you to, Jax.”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading this lil fic! you're awesome, i love you forever and we're now best friends (yes, all of you. too late to back out now) did you like it ? did you hate it ? please do let me know in the comment box below : it really, really, really makes my day(s) - i have very uninteresting days at the moment, so please. make my day. literally. 
> 
> you can also find me on tumblr, @generaleiafisher (and we'll really become best friends) 
> 
> Until next time, gorgeous people.   
> Kadi.


End file.
